For years, the Maharashtra state government has been trying to rope in the Madia Gond community in Gadchiroli district into mainstream education, but the lack of connection between Madia language, and Hindi or Marathi, has proven a major hindrance. This is what inspired Sumit More, a Pune-based software engineer to develop an app, called Akshar, to help bridge the linguistic gap.

With support from the NGO and some linguistic experts, More built Akshar, that would allow Madia children to learn Marathi language via their own dialect. "What the app does is creates a bridge between the Madia language and Marathi, using pictures, audio and videos. The app helps children learn elementary Marathi that allows them to get into mainstream education," says More.

The trials for the app started in January 2015 with 10 schools managed by Lok Biradari Group, and now the NGO is planning to make it available in all schools across Gadchiroli.